House allocates $75M in aid to fishermen

CHATHAM — On Tuesday, the logjam over aid for embattled fishermen appeared to be breaking up.

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By DOUG FRASER

capecodtimes.com

By DOUG FRASER

Posted Jan. 15, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By DOUG FRASER
Posted Jan. 15, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

CHATHAM — On Tuesday, the logjam over aid for embattled fishermen appeared to be breaking up.

U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass, announced that $75 million in fisheries disaster relief was included in the House version of the Omnibus Appropriations bill.

"It will help (fishermen) in a variety of ways," said Keating, noting that the entire Massachusetts delegation signed a letter to the secretary of Commerce in support of the aid declaration. "It is something we fought for, something we made a very strong case for."

Last year, fishermen faced quota cuts of more than 70 percent on some species after scientists revealed that several key fish stocks, including both the Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine cod populations, were not rebuilding to healthy levels.

Gov. Deval Patrick had asked federal officials to declare the New England groundfish fishery a disaster, which opened the door to federal aid. The Small Business Administration has offered low-interest loans of up to $2 million to groundfishermen, those who catch iconic species like cod, haddock and flounder.

Patrick had hoped Congress would also approve $100 million in aid to fishermen but that was held up in the last year while budget battles raged on Capitol Hill.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has already approved $150 million in fisheries disaster aid. That amount will have to be reconciled with the $75 million in the omnibus bill before final approval by both sides of Congress.

Keating did not know exactly what form the aid package would take if passed. Past fishery aid packages have included permit or vessel buyouts, loans or direct monetary handouts. He did say that the money would go toward direct aid to fishermen and not to agencies like the National Marine Fisheries Service or to academic researchers.

The $75 million is not all slated to be distributed in New England, but will also cover declared fishery disasters in the Florida and Gulf Coast oyster industry, the Alaskan salmon fishery, and the New York and New Jersey fisheries damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

But Keating believes New England will see the biggest portion of the aid. Other areas haven't been as devastated, he said.

Jackie O'Dell, executive director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, appreciated the effort by Keating and the state congressional delegation to insert the aid package into the appropriations bill.

"The time has come now for the industry to ensure the next steps of the disaster aid process (allocating and distributing the monies) is thoughtful and places the interests of those in peril today at the forefront," O'Dell wrote in an email.

But some local fishermen said Tuesday that money, while appreciated, is not the cure for the fishing industry. Healthy fish stocks, meaning more fish for fishermen to land and sell, is the only thing that can resurrect the industry, they say.

"People are not going to go out and borrow money that is hard to repay," said Chatham fisherman Peter Taylor. By the time the $75 million is divided among the various regions, it won't amount to anything, Taylor added. He is especially concerned that any aid money get to fishermen and not fund academic research as has happened with other relief programs.

"People are hoping there might be a permit buyback," Taylor said.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has declared a disaster in the Northeast groundfish fishery two other times. Those declarations resulted in buyout programs in 1996 that paid $24 million to fishermen to buy and scrap 78 fishing vessels that had historically caught about 18 percent of the total landings.

Chatham fisherman Eric Hesse thinks there are a number of older fishermen, as well as those not allocated a lot of fishing quota, who could benefit from a buyout.